Kanye West Reveals the Reason Why He Doesn't Smile

The code behind Kanye West’s disinterest in smiling was recently cracked at The Daily Front Row’s Fashion Los Angeles Awards. West was attending as an honorary guest presenter for an award presented to Mazdack Rassi, creative director of Milk Studios. While on stage, Kanye West shared insight into an interesting passage of a book he had read that dated back to the 1800s and offered the following statement:

“Back when I was working on Yeezus, I saw this book from the 1800s and it was velvet-covered with brass and everything,” West said. “I looked at all these people’s photos and they look so real and their outfits were incredible and they weren’t smiling and people, you know the paparazzi, always come up to me, ‘Why you not smiling?’ and I think, not smiling makes me smile… When you see paintings in an old castle, people are not smiling cause it just wouldn’t look as cool.”